1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a proximity network, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for configuring a proximity network in an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various proximity-based services utilizing short-range communication technology have been developed. Accordingly, a connection between physically neighboring devices may be configured, and a service for rapidly exchanging data may be provided. For example, the utilization of low energy proximity communication using a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon, and neighbor awareness networking (NAN) technology based on a wireless local area network (LAN) have been suggested.
A proximity-based service has a dynamically changing network. For example, a group of devices in a network may be referred to as a “cluster.” For a device to join a cluster, a signal indicating the existence of other devices or a cluster must be transmitted. Therefore, the device, which does not belong to the cluster, may detect the signal to thereby join the cluster.
As described above, in order to configure a proximity service-based network, it is required to transmit signals for discovering a cluster. In this case, all of or some of the devices in a cluster, which has been configured, may transmit signals for discovering a cluster. In the case where some devices transmit signals for discovering a cluster, at least one device that transmits a signal for discovering a cluster may experience relatively high power consumption, and may be restricted in performing another operation due to the transmission of the signal.